10-23-09 – Ironmen

Ironmen

One of the blessing of being here is that I have plenty of time to read. Some things I just read to get through the day but some things I read have the potential to change my life…I really love those things. I was reading something this morning from a great man named E.M. Bounds. It was written around 1910 and has been rewritten several times since then. Originally it was titled Preacher And Prayer, now I believe the most current revision is Power Through Prayer. Anything that Bounds writes is worth reading and much of has the power to transform your life.

 

As I was reading this I thought of how much of an encouragement and challenge it would be specifically for the men I have fellowshipped with for the last several years in a small group that we like to call ‘Ironmen’. As well as the other men that I have had the privelage to fellowship with throughout my life. So I am including a paragraph of his below with some slight modifications below.   

 

What does it take to be a man of God, what we love to think of as an ‘Ironman’?

 

‘The energy of self denial must be his being, his heart and blood and bones. He must go forth as a man among men, clothed with humility, abiding in meekness, wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove; the bonds of a servant with the spirit of a king, a king in high, royal bearing, with the simplicity and sweetness of a child. The Ironman must throw himself, with all the abandon of a perfect, self-emptying faith and a self-consuming zeal into his passion for the salvation of others. Hearty, heroic, compassionate, fearless martyrs must the men be who take hold and shape a generation for God. If they be timid time servers, place seekers or men fearers (or pleasers), if their faith has a weak hold on God or his Word, if their denial be broken by any phase of self or the world, they cannot take hold of their families, their church or the world for God.

 

The Ironman’s sharpest and strongest instruction should be to himself. His most difficult, delicate, laborious and thorough work must be with himself. We are not sermon makers, but men makers and saint makers and we are only well trained for this business if we are in the process of making ourselves men and saints. It is not great talents or great learning nor great leaders that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God – men always sharing, reaching and living their lives for God and others. These men can mold a generation for God.’

 

Never give up,

 

Joe

10-10-09 My new unit

Remember when I said I was moving to the new unit and I thought it would be quieter and cleaner? Well, I was wrong. I did move, but it is not cleaner and it is not quieter…not by a longshot. Another thing that is interesting about my new unit and wing is the other guys there. The lower level of the unit is taken up by all of the drug rehab inmates and the upper level is mostly guys waiting to go in to rehab. The guy on other side of the wall from my bunk (which is known here as my Wally) is a ‘white collar’ guy from Seattle and he not-so-affectionately refers to our new digs as ‘The Hood’. One of the many ‘benefits’ of The Hood is that I get to hang around and even live with some pretty heavy gang bangers and motorcycle club guys. There are at least 10 different prominent gangs represented and several smaller regional gangs as well. As different as they all want to believe that they are. I see very few differences overall. The gang mentality is a deviantly fascinating phenomena…but I will save that for a future post. I want to share something that may actually apply to someone reading this blog and/or their family. Because the one thing that all of these gangs have in common is that they aggressively sell meth to people outside of their gangs and outside of their neighborhoods. In fact, I am learning that for many of these guys, who do not all look like thugs, their favorite new customers are high school and college students cramming for exams, high school and college athletes trying to perform at a higher level, waiters/waitresses and construction workers who are trying to keep up with all the demands on their lives…favorite because they start using the drug for a specific purpose and quickly turn into addicts who can no longer function normally without their new best friend. These gang affiliated drug dealers give free drugs and money to middle class white teenagers from the most average families from the most quiet neighborhoods to bring them new clients. It is a process that starts seemingly innocent and small and then it quickly overwhelms all of its victims. And their is nothing remotely innocent or friendly about meth, the things that I have learned about meth while I have been here literally scare me to death. It is probably the most dangerous, addictive and life ruining drug that has ever been created. If you think you, your family or anyone you know is affected by meth, do your homework and do everything you can to help them get as far from this drug as possible. Please pay attention. I talked to dealers here who are from the Seattle area who claim that they sold to kids and adults from my neighborhood of Woodinville/Redmond all the time. So don’t just think that it couldn’t happen to your family, have the talk. I think there is a program called ‘Faces of Meth’ that you can Google. It is supposed to be very eye opening.

Joe

10-3-09 – Blessings

As I look back through the years of my life I realize that I have been blessed to have been able to surround myself with really good men. Not just casual friends, but men that gather together for the express purpose of encouraging each other, holding each other accountable and growing together.
Most recently (before coming here) I have enjoyed this blessing of fellowship with the Ironmen group from Woodinville Alliance Church, before that I was blessed to be able to meet weekly with Barry, Jon, Matt and Tony when we lived in Magnolia…and there have been other groups of guys that stretch all the way back to the guys at Westsound Church in Silverdale. Many of which, I am still in touch with even from here. These men make up a large part of the fabric of my life and I am very thankful they have been and are in my life today. They make me strive to be a better man.
I bring this up because tonight I am reminded that I am once again blessed with a group of good men who are gathering together to encourage and challenge each other, even here. We have a group of about 20 guys that meet as a group on Friday nights to study the Bible together and to share each other’s joys and burdens. There are several other Bible studies during the week, but this one is special. The group is very intimate. We are heavy on the sharing and the discussions have been been profoundly honest and moving. There are men here that I will be friends with 20 years from now. Men that I can’t imagine not being part of my life now that they are in it.
In short, there are blessings for me even in prison.

Joe